West Forsyth High School - Cronus Yearbook (Clemmons, NC)

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Photo by: Rob Hari ll rite lei I ight By Paige Hutchens riting is a skill that is taught, tested, admired and rewarded. For some it is an easy, even en- joyable, task. For others it is a major head- ache that often results in hours of staring at blank pieces of paper while waiting for inspiration. Students are required to write in almost every class. There are term papers, re- search projects, book reports, essays, po- ems, short stories in science, history and English. All English classes develop re- search skills and emphasize writing. Cer- tain classes, however, are specifically de- signed to utilize or enhance writing skills. Three such courses offered here were Ad- vanced Grammar and Composition, Newspaper Publications and Yearbook Publications. Lisa Stoakley said, Advanced Gram- mar has helped me to prepare myself for all of the writing I'll be doing in collegef, Even though this is my second year on 62fWr1ting Classes the Zephyr staff, it is still hard to meet the deadlines,', remarked Amy Andrews. Deadlines, pressure and stress some- times led to writer's block in the publica- tions classes, but many students felt the pluses out weighed the minuses. There were three large publications classes. Newspaper Publications met fifth and sixth period with a total of 56 students. Yearbook Publications consisted of 30 stu- dents, five of them returning members from the '86 staff. Sherril McSwain faced double deadlines. She was on the Zephyr staff during fifth period, as well as serving on the sports staff of the Cronus sixth period. Why would anyone actually choose to be in not one, but two, pressure packed writing courses? There are many reasons. Students in yearbook and newspaper courses write the history of the school for the year, which is read by several thousand people. Staff members get to see the school as a whole and meet many students. They develop leadership skills by facing the pressure of deadlines. In the proce: they become published authors and i crease their possibilities of employmd for the future. Communication through writing is iii portant for everyone, even if they do n plan a future in the field of journalisi The North Carolina Board of Educatii finds it such an important skill that it w added as a requirement for graduation the North Carolina Competency Test gi en to all sophomores. Apparently Winston-Salem Forsy County Schools were fairly successful teaching writing. In 1986, the first ye requiring the writing portions of the Col petency test, 9O.6'ZJ passed. West Forsy was even more successful individually wi a 93.823 rate of passing. This high percel age of students passing the writing porti of the competency test on the first try, a the large numbers of students taking a- vanced grammar and journalism cours show the emphasis on writing as a vi skill has not been lost on students here

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Na :lion S' Tneor I have always had a natural interest in Lcience that goes back to elementary Lchool, said Mr. Louis Newton, when tsked how he became interested in teach- ng science. Mr. Newton has taught seventeen years if anatomy, seven years of Advanced Biol- Jgy and two years of physical science. Mr, Newton has a way of capturing his ,tudents attention and keeping it, said Sherrill McSwain, one of his anatomy ,tudents. 'All of his lessons contain such up-to-date nformationf' exclaimed Elaine Bond. Mr. Newton keeps up with the fast raced health and science fields. I read a great deal especially relative o my subject area. Also, I usually take me or two college courses or workshops :ach summer, said Mr. Newton Mr. Newton keeps his students interest- :din the subject matter through classroom abs and field trips, not to mention his nuch appreciated stories and jokes. PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER: Mr. Louis Newton explains to students Jocelyn Craft, Dana Nelson. Kelly Cox and Carol Samuelson how to cut out and pair up chromosomes. The ten students in his Advanced Biology class spent nearly three months studying genetics. , ...,, ,, V , 1 ,Z , g -Wea ,qt f , . ,.,f , Y,,f f , . V , I- , . t 9 ' it ,,,, , I , , , - ,,,, yyj, , 'A ,, ,, , A REEL DIFFERENCE: Ashley Surratt. Dcidra Vance. Tiffany Dull and Tara Couthran master a step in the Virginia Rccl. Miss Kathy Mayberry add- ed the dance class to her aerobics class during second quarter to spice-up the after Christmas blahs. Body Languagef6l

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E WRITE STUFF: Donnie Esposito akes pride in the awards he received for ls outstanding performance in the North l Carolina State Writing Contest. After 'inning at the county and regional levels, te advanced to the state finals becoming gible for one of 20 scholarships available to the 22 All-State Finalists. THE JOB IS DONE: Ana Williams, Vikki Cloer, Michelle Cornwell, Dottie Prevette, Judy Marsh- burn, Sherril McSwain, Anthony Burns, Amy An- drews, Cindy Smith, April Gamble of Mrs. Judy Williard's fifth period class admired the finished product of the first Zephyr of the year. The newspa- per staff produced nine papers, one per month. S-'ask 3 TNQ Frank Samuelson A BYTE OF THE APPLE: Ana Williams, editor of the Zephyr, enters copy for an article on the newspa- per class's computer. Ana has been on the staff ofthe newspaper for the past two years, writing and editing copy. Frank Samuelson A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: Mark Cartner, Sports Editor and Kelle Owens, Editor-in-Chief of the Cronus pour over pic- tures to select just the right one. Both Kelle and Mark were on the sports staff of the '86 Cronus and were two of the five students returning for a second year on the yearbook staff. Y' ,, J I-'rank Samuelson Writing Classesf63